Evidence Synthesis and Knowledge Mobilization
Connecting health research with the people and decisions that shape better healthcare.
The CARE Lab works with communities, health system partners, policymakers, practitioners, and researchers to bring together evidence, qualitative insights, and relevant expertise to address real-world policy, practice, and health system questions.
We help partners move beyond asking “What does the evidence say?” to understand:
What is known? → What is relevant here? → What does it mean for implementation and action?
MAKING EVIDENCE RELEVANT TO THE DECISIONS YOU NEED TO MAKE.
Contextualized Evidence
Contextualized evidence brings existing research together with an understanding of these conditions to determine the relevance and implications of evidence for a particular decision-making context.
Our approach combines three elements:
1
Synthesize what is already known
We rapidly bring together existing research evidence, including qualitative research on people's experiences, perspectives, barriers, enablers, and the conditions that shape how policies, programs, and services work in practice.
2
Interpret research evidence in context
We examine how local, organizational, cultural, policy, population, and health-system conditions influence the relevance and implications of existing evidence.
3
Bring research evidence and expertise together
When appropriate, we engage subject-matter experts, service-delivery partners, community leaders, and people with relevant lived and living experience to help interpret the evidence, identify contextual considerations, and determine what matters for the decision at hand.
EVIDENCE SUPPORT DESIGNED AROUND REAL-WORLD QUESTIONS
How We Support Partners
-
When decisions need to be made quickly, we identify, assess, and synthesize existing evidence into focused, accessible findings that respond to a defined policy, practice, program, or health-system question.
Examples: rapid reviews, evidence briefs, jurisdictional scans, targeted literature reviews, and evidence summaries.
-
We synthesize findings from previously conducted qualitative research to understand what has been learned about experiences, perspectives, implementation challenges, barriers and enablers, and the conditions influencing how interventions, policies, and services work.
-
For questions where context is especially important, we combine evidence synthesis with expert engagement.
Subject-matter experts, program-delivery partners, community leaders, and others with relevant knowledge can help identify contextual considerations and interpret what existing evidence means for a particular population, community, health system, or policy environment. Engagement may include structured, deliberative dialogue.
-
We work with partners to determine what knowledge needs to reach whom, in what form, and for what purpose.
-
Evidence may identify what should change, but implementation requires understanding how change can happen within a particular setting.
Drawing on implementation science and systems thinking, we can help partners identify contextual barriers and enablers, assess readiness, identify implementation strategies, and build opportunities for learning and adaptation.
What Can Contextualized Evidence Help You Understand?
This approach is particularly useful when the question is not simply “Does it work?”, but:
What do we already know about this issue?
How have patients, communities, providers, or other groups experienced it?
What outcomes are important for providers, decision-makers, and the public?
What helps or hinders implementation?
Why might an intervention work differently across settings or populations?
Which findings are most relevant to our context?
What contextual conditions should we consider before acting?
What are the implications for policy, programs, services, or implementation?
Knowledge Synthesis and Mobilization Products
The format of an evidence product should reflect who needs the evidence, what decision it needs to inform, and how it will be used.
CARE Lab evidence and knowledge products may include:
Synthesis of existing qualitative research to illuminate experiences, perspectives, barriers, enablers, and contextual conditions.
Comparative analysis of policies, programs, models, and approaches across jurisdictions.
Practical resources that translate evidence into strategies for implementation and practice change.
Accessible visual products designed to communicate complex findings clearly.
Facilitated opportunities to bring evidence, expertise, experience, and context together.
Focused assessments of existing research produced within decision-relevant timelines.
Concise syntheses designed around a specific decision or policy question.
COLLABORATIVE PARTNERSHIPS
Who We Work With
Communities and community organizations • Indigenous organizations and communities • Health system organizations • Governments and policymakers • Healthcare professionals and teams • Public health organizations • Researchers and research networks • Non-profit and service-delivery organizations
Our level of involvement can range from a focused rapid evidence request to a longer-term partnership supporting evidence synthesis, interpretation, implementation, and learning.
The CARE Lab is a member of the Evidence Support Network for Canada (ESN-CA) and the lead for the Qualitative Insights Hub.
We also lead contextualized, expert-driven evidence synthesis on Indigenous Primary Health Care topics with the Indigenous Primary Health Care and Policy Research (IPHCPR) Network.
CONTEXTUALIZED EVIDENCE IN ACTION
Featured Evidence and Knowledge Products
Explore examples of CARE Lab evidence syntheses, policy briefs, implementation resources, reports, infographics, and other knowledge products developed with our partners.
